Vision

A People’s Home:

Development at Glenaladale will be based on the concept of turning a family home into a PEOPLE’s HOME.

Our ancestors came to Prince Edward Island to create a new home for their families. Glenaladale will build on this by becoming a place to:

Be with family

Be remembered

Make memories

Find your roots

Learn by doing

Rest/Heal/Recover

Celebrate PEI’s culture

Explore

Feel connected

Tell and preserve stories

Be accepted

Value work & sharing of tasks

PLAY!!!

It will create a public place of recognition and will honour the skills, courage and foresight of the early settlers of Prince Edward Island.

A vibrant cultural centre supported by a diverse range of activities focussed on ancestral & experiential tourism, retreats, healing and recovery, and ecology, will re-ignite the spirit of self-reliance so present in these people.

Honouring Our Past:

Glenaladale will give a sense of place to the many Scottish and Irish people whose ancestors arrived on Prince Edward Island through the efforts of Captain John and his son Father John and will pay homage to the Acadian and Mi’kmaq people who lived in the area before them.

The brick home will be restored and refurbished to its original period. It will serve as a small conference/education centre, a reception area for special events such as cultural gatherings, small festivals, folklore presentations, weddings and teas, and accommodate academic retreats, children’s camps, and a Scottish family history centre.

Art Gallery, Café and Gift Shop:

Some space in the house will be used for a display/storytelling sessions on the 20th century rum-running history of the property. The MacKinnons will also be honoured through a gallery of Ruth MacKinnon Barlow’s folk art.

The old Glenaladale School will be converted to be used as an artisans’ incubator and cafe/gift-shop. The crafts demonstrated will focus on the domestic crafts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Farming & Fishing:

Portions of the farmland will be developed into organic garden plots demonstrating traditional farming techniques. There will also be activities of traditional animal husbandry. These two aspects of the development will serve as a foundation for various rural and domestic sciences education projects following the philosophy of the Macdonald Movementof education.

18th Century Experiential Education:

For both the craft and agricultural activities visitors will have opportunities to experience firsthand how our ancestors lived, based on life in Scotland and in Prince Edward Island at the end of the 18th century. Visitors and volunteers will assist in the construction of small homes and other buildings using techniques of the period and will step into the shoes of our ancestors during their time at Glenaladale.

The shorefront will be the home of an early fishing enterprise showing the beginnings of the Island’s fishing industry. Access to the Bay will allow for a realistic re-creation of those times involving boats, docks and fish houses. Construction of small boats (canoes, dories etc), using the tools and expertise available at that time will provide visitors and volunteers another opportunity to experience how life was lived 200 years ago.

Healing and Recovery:

The special feeling of the land at Glenaladale will serve as a base for retreats, programs and skills development related to healing and recovery.

Sustainability:

The marshland will be preserved as an ecological habitat with observation stations at various locations. The woods will be used for a diverse range of year-round educational and leisure activities.

These ecological aspects will be further enhanced through the development of an ECO-village wherein participants will live in harmony with their surroundings using the best of traditional and modern technologies. The ECO-village will also honour the forward thinking of Sir William C. Macdonald by reflecting the environmental engineering aspects of the existing Glenaladale home.

Find Us

About GHT Inc.

The Glenaladale Heritage Trust was incorporated on January 19, 2015 and received charitable status on March 10, 2016. The Board is comprised of members from the local community and the heritage, education, tourism, environment, and cultural sectors, with advisors from among these fields as well as agriculture, renewable energy and the legal and financial professions.
Registered Charity # 819486325RR0001

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